We Won't Allow You to Be Alone Anymore
by r3d butt3rfly
Summary: Clint Barton has spent most of his life alone. He had learned to not let people get too close. The last person he let close is dead because of him. But now this jumbled mess of people won't leave him alone: they trust him, they care. Not many people have cared for him, and, strangely, he cares for them. But will this cost him his life? Will he care if it does?
1. Chapter 1

**So this is my first fic. I am sooooo exited:)! Please be truthful in your reviews and please review. Hope you find this enjoyable. Read away! **

Chapter one

The schwarma was good. Clint had had quite a bit of it, seeing as his line of work had him moving all over the world whenever it decided it wanted to bug him or have him in a specific spot at a specific moment so that it could bug him with whatever was going to happen there. But the schwarma was good. Everyone was completely silent and had been for the past twenty minutes that they had been in the restaurant. Of course, that was after they had scared the crap out of the poor owners when they came barging through the door with a multitude of weapons and injuries. To his surprise even Stark hadn't said a word, which Clint thought was the longest streak of time he hadn't said anything, except for when he was sleeping... unless of course he mumbled in his sleep, which would not surprise the archer.

No one noticed as Clint looked around the small table filled with empty baskets of food, not even Natasha. As Clint looked at her he could see the wear of the battle. Though to most she might still seem on edge, Clint could see how she slouched slightly and was a bit out of it, almost dozing. It proved how much she trusted the people around her. Though it was obvious she didn't trust them completely, the trust was still there. It was kind of nice, to see that Tasha would let other people in her locked up soul, under the mask she set forth as a test to see if someone was truly her friend.

Clint's eyes strayed to the next person, Rogers the super solider. The man was half asleep, his eyelids slipping, threatening to clamp down and send him into the world of dreams. Thor was digging into his third schwarma sandwich with as much gusto as he had done the first. Banner was staring into space thinking of who knows what; probably what was going to happen to him now. He didn't think he was wanted here or that he could handle being in a big city. For some reason Clint trusted him, and though most would call him crazy, he trusted the Hulk as much as he did the man. It was obvious to a blind man that Banner didn't trust himself not to hurt others. That was why he would run off to some far off place to try to help when he could. But where to now? Somalia? Pakistan? Iran? Clint let his eyes stray on the man a few seconds longer before looking away. Lastly, to finish off the circle of madness that had been created at the little table in the middle of New York, was Stark. Every few minutes he would twist his lips like he was going to say something but then something would stop him and he would once again slip into thought, letting the silence clench around the room once more.

"So?" Clint said stretching his muscles, finally break the silence. "Is he dead or injured, and if he's injured how bad is it?"

The group looked at the archer in confusion.

Clint sighed half not wanting to get an answer for his question. "I'm talking about Agent Coulson. He would have given us our time to eat then come in here railing on us about how we broke such and such important landmark or didn't follow proper protocol at this time. So," Clint crossed his arms his expression not giving away anything. "where is he?"

Steve gulped, making the archer's chest tighten. That wasn't a good sign. Natasha put her arm gently on his leg which she had allowed him to set on her chair. The partners made eye contact and Clint knew then and there what the condition of his handler was. No more words needed to be said.

"I see." He mumbled quietly, making Tony snort half in confusion and half in what almost seemed like anger.

"That's all you can say? You and Ms. Spider here have your secret little invisible and wordless chat and all you say is 'I see'?!" Tony looked at Clint like he was crazy (which he was, though he sometimes denied it to annoy people). "Your friend was murdered by a magic stick wielding psycho with family issues and you almost seem to not care at all." With that Clint was on his feet and slamming his fists down on the table hard making it rattle and shift everything on it.

"How dare you say that!"

As Tony looked into the archer's eyes he could see how very wrong he was: the eyes he looked into held a fury and a fire like none he had ever seen, and though he would never admit it, they were purely terrifying.

"Phil Coulson was a great man, one that I cared for very much, and I will not let you say a word about my allegiance and feelings for him, because they run deeper than anything you could ever muster."

Clint then stormed out of the room leaving the now fully awake group in shock.

"He woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," the billionaire mumbled, trying to cover up the fact that he was a bit annoyed that he actually lost an argument. With that, a loud slap rang out around the room - one that sent Stark to the floor. As he got up, he looked into the face of his attacker, a face which happened to belong to the Black Widow. Her eyes where icy, unlike Barton's, showing no emotion whatsoever.

"You have no idea what you're talking about Stark. You never knew Phil like we did, and I guess now you never will." Natasha stormed out of the room much like her partner had earlier, leaving the room even more stunned and Stark with a sore cheek.

"Well that plan worked out well," Tony said, rubbing his check.

"Wait? You actually had a plan in that jumbled mess of a conversation?" Steve asked, completely oblivious to the billionaire's thoughts.

"Yes I actually did." Tony grumbled, the annoyance clear in his voice. "Now I'm going back to the tower and I'm going to start on the renovations. You people go do whatever you do."

With that Tony left the last three Avengers to their own doings.

"Now, that went well," Bruce muttered, speaking for the first time, the sarcasm clear in his voice.

* * *

It was night now and a beautiful, warm summer breeze was skimming over the top of the helicarrier. Clint chuckled quietly at how ironic it seemed; the weather was the exact opposite of how he felt inside. He felt so cold, so empty, every time he closed his eyes. Even when he just blinked he could hear the screams, so full of fear. Fifteen screams, fifteen people he killed, and was that even all of them? Clint had memorized who was on watch duty and working where at all times, so he already knew some of the people he had killed. Hoffman, Frish, Branchen, Smaller, the list went on and on, and though the he had only known Smaller well, every one of the names ate away at him.

All he could give them was his own memory of their scream. He couldn't go to their funerals, he couldn't try to apologize to the families, he couldn't even remember their faces from when he last saw them... but did he even want to? Clint pushed the thoughts as far away from his conscious as he possibly could, when he felt a presence slip onto the roof with him. A semi brisk pace, short stops before another foot hit the metal, the footsteps silent to anyone else. Natasha.

"It's 4AM," she said softly, coming to a stop right behind him. Clint could tell from her voice that she was worried; when she was like that she tended to lean on her right foot and cross her arms loosely. Clint half looked back to see her shadow from the moon. Seeing that he was right he gave a small nod in response.

"Have you slept at all?" Natasha asked, slipped down gracefully to sit next to her partner. The archer didn't answer but as she looked into his eyes she could tell that he hadn't. "You should really try to get some sleep."

"You know I can't."

Natasha looked down into the water that surrounded where they were docked, knowing the feeling all too well. "I'm sorry about Coulso..."

"Don't, Tasha, please don't. I … I just want to lay here and look at the stars, even if it's just until the sun comes up. Please." Her partner's voice had become softer and softer, until she could barely hear his muffled voice as he mumbled into his knees, which were now clutched to his chest with his arms wrapped around them.

Natasha gently put her hands on his shoulders and guided his head to rest on her lap so he could lie down and look up. And that's how they stayed, not saying a word and not sleeping at all, just waiting for the sunrise, waiting for the new day to show its face.

**This was short and probably the shortest chapter there will be. I don't know how long this will be but I think I have a good story line for this. I hope I have completed you to keep reading the story. Review's make me happy! **


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Clint rubbed his side irritably, trying not to shift his newly broken ribs too much. It had been five days since the chitauri attack and one could say he wasn't very welcome on base anymore. Clint sighed and shut his emotions down, making his eyes cold and emotionless as Agent Carter approached him. Clint had killed two of the man's teammates and he had never liked Clint in the first place, so he found this a good time to take his anger out on Clint. To be truthful, Clint thought he kind of deserved the pain. He knew he didn't disagree with the man's reasons, so he just took every punch every kick and did nothing to stop the man.

"Hey there, Barton," the agent said arrogantly, sauntering up to Clint. The man then slammed his fist into Clint's stomach, making him rock back on his heels but not take a step back. Clint lifted his head to look the agent straight in the eyes, his own seemingly dead ones burrowing their way into the other agent's skull as if seeing his thoughts. Carter took a step back, shivers going down his spine. The agent growled something inaudible at Clint and walked briskly away. Clint tensed as his partner stepped out of the shadows and into the pace next to him.

"Would you like to tell me what that was?" she said in a seemingly sweet voice.

"Not really,"Clint said shrugging. Natasha glared at him, making Clint sigh. "Don't think that you haven't seen the sideways glances, and the disdained looks. While some just gossip and say rude things when they think I can't hear, some of them think the only way to get their anger out is to beat the crap out of me."

"And why the hell don't you defend yourself?" Natasha hissed, her hands balling into fists.

"You of all people know what it's like to feel like you deserve to have the crap beaten out of you."

Natasha tensed, stopping the brisk pace they had been setting. Clint, realizing what he had said, also stopped.

"Natasha, sorry I wasn't thinking, that was low and …"

"This is not one of those times, Clint. This is different," Natasha said cutting him off, changing the subject.

"No, Tasha it actually isn't. I killed people and that's that. I just want to get out of this base. I don't care if I live in a two room apartment in the middle of Manhattan. God, I would live with Stark." Clint took a deep breath, pausing for a second. "I just want to get out of here. To be alone."

Natasha sighed. To be truthful she felt exactly the same. Maybe not about the living with Stark part, but she was starting to get desperate. Maybe she would just ask Stark.

"Don't even think about asking Stark," Clint said, looking at Natasha as if he was worried she might, making Natasha smile. Someone knew her that well. "Let's just get through this meeting and we can talk about it later."

* * *

Steve was worried. The group hadn't seen each other since they sent off Loki and Thor to Asgard. Now the demigod was back, and he seemed very glad to see the team, but everyone else didn't seem to want to be there whatsoever. Bruce fidgeted with his glasses, his head down. Natasha sat with her legs crossed, looking out the big windows that covered one walls, as if looking for any threats that might be able to see the invisible ship that was in the harbor. She still seemed a bit peeved that Steve sill let his tongue slip and would occasionally call her Miss Romanoff. After she smiled what was definitely not a happy smile and told him in a stern voice to call her Natasha, he was sure he would remember. The archer was sitting stiffly in his chair with his arms crossed loosely over his stomach, his head facing down. What Steve didn't like was that his eyes seemed so dead. When he had seen the archer during the fight, he had seen some emotion in his eyes but now they were empty, and it was quite unnerving. Thinking for a moment, Steve realized he didn't even know the man's first name. What was his last name? Brant? Barton? Steve himself wasn't sure if he wanted to be in the conference room waiting for Stark to show up to tell them whatever he wanted to tell them, and Steve had a feeling he wouldn't like it.

* * *

Tony was excited. He had called the Avengers together to tell them some great news - which Bruce already knew, but he still would love to see the looks on their faces, especially the assassins. Tony chuckled maniacally, seriously creeping out a pair of new recruits who were still trying to find their way around the helicarrier. As the conference room came into view, his smile grew bigger. Tony reached for the door and swung it open with a huge bang. He was Tony Stark after all - he had to make a big entrance!

"You are all going to come live at the newly proclaimed Avengers tower!"

(Cricket cricket cricket...)

The other five avengers just stared at the billionaire. Some with raised eyebrows, some with confusion.

"Come on, we just got it remodeled so that it's Hulk and thunder god proof. Well, hopefully."

"I didn't think you were serious when you suggested it, but…" Bruce trailed off with a kind of hopeful tone in his voice.

"Hey, we can bond as a team and Bruce has been living in the tower for the past week. It's really nice, right?"

The scientist gave a small nod.

"Well?" the billionaire said, looking at the others expectantly.

Steve was surprised and it showed in the fact that he let his mouth slip open a bit. This was defiantly not the thing he was expecting Tony to ask, but he let a smile settle on his face. Steve hadn't really had any friends since he woke up and the team bonding would be good.

"I'd love to," Steve finally said, making Tony give him a hardy slap on the back.

"Alright, so what about you Goldilocks?"

"Who is this Goldilocks that you speck of?" Thor said glancing around the room.

"You," Tony said whipping his finger up to point it at Thor "with your long, luscious blond hair." Tony voice got higher and higher as the sentence went on and he pretended to fiddle with long strands of hair. This caused Thor to laugh.

"I shall join you in the Tower of Stark, my friend."

"It's now the Avengers tower, so call it that."

"Well I'm already living there, so I'll stay there," Bruce said, a smile sliding across his face.

"Woo hoo, operation 'make sure Bruce does not go off to some far off secluded place' is a success. Aren't I a wonderful host?"

"Pepper convinced me."

"What?! No, that was me and my hospitality!"

"No, it was the conversation I had with Pepper last night."

"Bruce, I thought you liked me!" Tony said lifting his hands up to his chest like he'd been hurt.

"So, what about you guys?" Steve said bringing all the attention down on the two assassins. Clint turned to his partner as a Cheshire cat smile spread across her face.

"You do know I was joking," Clint said, a worried feeling clenching his insides.

"Stark has better coffee," Natasha pointed out.

"I don't care about coffee."

Natasha's eyes grew serious as she started tapping on her leg, Morse Code. 'You know they won't stop hurting you.' The others stared at them in confusion as Clint tapped on his leg, 'Yeah, but Stark, really?'

'Yes. We're going and that is final.' Natasha's eyes grew harder as to prove her point. Clint sighed, knowing that there was no way he could win this argument.

"Care to tell us the answer to you silent debate?" Tony asked.

"Our answer is yes." Tony made a small fist pumping motion while mumbling a small 'yessss'.

"Alright! Get packed and I expect everyone there in two hours."

* * *

Clint was always ready to leave at short notice. It came with the job. The fact that he had very few personal items may have had something to do with it, but that was beside the point. They had told Fury their choice to live at Stark tower and he seemed to support the decision. They still had an hour and a half until they needed to be at the tower when Natasha knocked on his door. She didn't even bother to wait for a response before she came in. Though his room door had a hand scanner that should only let him in, he had programmed it so it would also let in Natasha, Maria and Phil. Natasha plopped down on the bed next to him.

"The quinjet is set. Ready to fly out?"

Clint held up his one duffel bag that looked exactly like hers, black and nondescript. They were thankfully able to get through the helicarrier without meeting anyone, and in a matter of minutes they were in the air. Clint relaxed a bit as his hands clenched around the steering wheel; it always felt nice to fly. He usually had to read a briefing on the plane flight, so he couldn't fly when they were on missions. Natasha sat in the co-pilot seat next to him and for the first time in a while, he felt safe.

"So, you ready to live with Stark again?" Clint asked glancing at his partner.

"He's a lot more controllable with Pepper around, and besides, she and I get along quite well."

"Well, I guess it will be interesting."

The two stopped talking as Stark tower came into view.

"We will be living in the only fully rebuilt building in central Manhattan," Natasha commented, nodding her head a bit. The tower was like a single light bulb left on in the dark, the only rebuilt building in the area.

"The perks of being a billionaire, I guess." The assassins landed on the newly enlarged platform and waited for the hatch to open. As they walked out, they were met by Tony, Bruce and Pepper. As Pepper saw Natasha, they walked up to each other and welcomed each other with a big hug.

"It's good to see you again."

"You too, how have you been?"

"Good, except for worrying that this guys going to be eaten by a giant alien fish." She motioned to Tony as she said this.

"Nice sunglasses, Birdbrain," Tony said walking up to Clint "You're the first two here."

"Birdbrain?" Clint said raising an eyebrow.

"Yep. You should paint the frames red and gold."

"If you do that, you'll be paying for a new pair," Clint said, shrugging his bag onto the cement platform.

"So what have you been doing for the past week?" Tony asked.

"That's classified information." The two scientists stared at the younger man.

"Hey, you two ready to show them their floors?" Pepper called over from where she was talking with Natasha.

"Sure," Bruce said. As they entered the tower, JARVIS's voice rang out.

"Sir, it seems Mr. Rogers and Mr. Odinson are in the lobby. They seem to be having some trouble using the elevator."

The group dropped their bags on the couch in the family area and went down to meet their friends. The elevator was huge; Thor could have comfortably sprawled out on the floor if he wanted to. A calm motherly voice brought Clint out of his thoughts.

"I don't believe we've met. I'm Virginia Potts, but everyone calls me Pepper." Clint took her hand and shook it nicely.

"Clint Baton, it's nice to meet you." Pepper smiled warmly and let go of his hand as the elevator pinged, signaling they had reached the lobby. It happened on instinct: Pepper was standing with her back to the door and as it opened something came flying through the door. Clint grabbed Pepper by the shoulder and pulled her behind him as he clenched his fist around the thing, stopping it with a steel like force. As the doors fully opened, everyone could see the scene in front of them. Thor and Steve had been surprised by the door opening and like the worriers they were they lashed out. Well Steve lashed out - Thor was still confused with all the buttons. Pepper had been unfortunate enough to be right in the line of Steve's fist which had been stopped by Clint who had pulled Pepper out of the way.

"That … was totally WICKED!" Tony said. "Have you been enhanced to have super fast reflexes or something?"

"No, I just have good reflexes," Clint said bluntly, letting go of Steve's fist and dropping his grip on Peppers shoulder.

"I am so sorry! Are you OK? I didn't hurt your wrist or something did I?" Steve was obviously freaking out and was looking Clint over carefully to make sure he wasn't hurt.

"It's fine Steve; those were just your battle reflexes. I'm fine." Clint took off his sunglasses and slid them in him pocket before he relaxed. "How about you? Sorry about being kind of rough."

"I'm fine," Pepper said who was looking Clint over for injuries. "Are you sure your wrist is okay?" Pepper grabbed Clint's wrist gently and started bending it left and right.

"I'm fine." Clint pulled his hand out of Pepper's grasp and moved over to lean on the wall of the elevator.

"Well, why don't you two get in the elevator and we'll show all of you around." Tony pulled Steve and Thor in the elevator as they looked at it skeptically. He pushed the button for the top floor and they zoomed to the top.

"Well, the top floor here is the common and family area. Nice view, huh?" Tony led all of them out of the elevator and onto the sunlit room that did indeed have an amazing view, even though at the moment most of the buildings in view were kind of demolished. The group went from floor to floor with people laying claim to which floor they wanted. Clint had the top floor right underneath the common room; Stark and Pepper were below him, going on in the order of Steve, Natasha, Bruce, and Thor.

"The last part of this tour is the part that all of you will like," Tony said, a bit of pride in his voice. "The training room!" As JARVIS opened the door, the team saw a huge room that went the course of the floor. On one side, there was a huge sparing mat with a large assortment of punching bags. In the middle was a ropes course full of different things to jump and twist around. But the thing that caught Clint attention was the range at the end of the flood near the windows, the space between the target and the shooting spot was 75 meters, the Olympic distance for archery. Clint looked at the ceiling and found himself pleased with the sight of an extensive track of I-beams that created patters for him to climb on. Clint looked at Natasha as she looked back at him. Natasha made a series of small movements creating a sentence. 'Better than anything at SHIELD.' Clint raised an eyebrow and nodded. 'You got that right.'

"So are you all astounded by my sheer awesomeness?" Tony said looking at the others expectantly, waiting for praise.

"It's quite an impressive training field your have made friend Stark," Thor said, poking at the squishy floor of the sparing mat.

"Good, one person is pleased. So how about the others?"

"It looks good - more modern than anything I used in the army," Steve said, inspecting the punching bags.

"I'm not going to be using any of this stuff, but it's pretty cool."

"Yeah, I don't want a Hulk walking around the tower. No offense." Tony swiveled on his heels to face Clint and Natasha. "Soooooo?"

"It's good." Natasha said, surveying the room.

"That's all you can say?"

"Yes."

Tony sighed. "Well what about you, feather head?"

"It's good." Tony's eyebrow twitched a bit.

"Well, I'm happy you approve," he said, an edge of annoyance in his voice.

Bruce sighed. "This will be one wild tower to live in from now on, won't it?"

Pepper nodded in agreement. "Well, we've made everything as unbreakable as possible, so we'll see how it goes."


	3. Chapter 3

**So i am finally updating. Sorry it took so long, school stuff. But thank you for commenting that made me so happy i started smiling like an idiot and some of my class mates gave me weird looks. here it is enjoy! :)Sadly I don't own the avengers.  
**

**Also, Kurisuten-chan is now my beta reader, so the past few chapters have been edited for spelling/grammar errors!**

Chapter 3

It had been three weeks since the Avengers had started living together and nothing much had happened. Well, besides Steve blowing up a toaster, Thor sending Mjolnir through a wall when JARVIS first talked to him, and Tony ripping his hair out trying to find out how the hell Clint was getting around the tower undetected. JARVIS said that the archer was in the building, but his sensors couldn't find exactly were in the building he was. To be truthful, none of the avengers, minus Natasha of course, had seen Clint at all. It they had talked to him on the first day, but then 'poof' - he was gone.

"Maybe he's invisible," Tony said out of the blue one day, when the male avengers, minus Clint, were sitting around the table in the common area eating breakfast.

"Maybe who's invisible?" Steve said, looking up from his newspaper.

"Barton. I mean it's like he's not here at all! Maybe he has a hat like that Athena chick in Percy Jackson and the Olympians."

"Percy Jackson and the Olympians?"

"It's a book series," Bruce said implying that he would explain more to Thor and Steve later.

"Well, I guess you're right," Steve said moving on from his confusion. "I haven't seen him at all either."

"It is a bit discouraging. I really think he shouldn't be alone right now. I don't know how well he's handling things." Bruce put one hand over his mouth in an 'I'm thinking very deeply right now' sort of way.

"I saw the Son of Barton last night."

The other three avenges looked at Thor with wide eyes.

"You what? Where?!"

Thor now looked at his comrades with wide eyes, as they had said those sentences in perfect unison and were now starring at him intently.

"It was quite late last night - perhaps early morning. I had been on my balcony because I could not sleep when I heard something above me. I looked up and I saw the hawk climbing up the side of the building before he went into his own floor via an open window."

"He climbed up the side of the tower?!" Steve had seen the archer do some acrobatic things, but he didn't really think the archer could do that! He didn't think anyone should be able to do that.

"He climbed up the side of my tower? No one should be able to do that! The person who put in the security to make sure that didn't happen was ME!" Tony looked very annoyed but the others could tell he was just trying to cover up his worry.

"Maybe we should go see if he's on his floor," Bruce said, getting up.

"I have JARVIS checking to see if he's on his floor every few hours but he's never there."

The group looked at Tony oddly, before chuckling.

"What's so funny?" Tony asked crossing his arms over his chest defensively.

"So you do care," Bruce said, still chuckling. Though Tony would never admit it, he was very overprotective of the other avengers and Pepper. He was _very_ overprotective of Pepper.

Steve stood up and stretched before going to stand next to Bruce.

"Let's just go look around in person. Machines can't do everything."

The comment made Tony roll his eyes and mutter something along the lines of 'someday they will' but no one was really listening.

They all crammed in the elevator and went to the archer's floor in silence, wondering what would greet them. An incredible array of weapons? Electronics? Books? Movies? But what they saw when they got there was nothing like what they expected.

There was nothing. The walls were still white. The only furniture was the generic stuff that Pepper and Tony had chosen when they renovated the tower. It looked like no one had even been here.

"Well, this is creepy," Tony said, taking a step out of the elevator.

"Has the hawk even been here?" Thor asked, looking around, trying to find a sign of life.

Tony walked into the kitchen, which was the closest room to the elevator, and opened the fridge. Empty. Tony and the others continued to open all the draws and cabinets, but _all_ of them to where empty.

"Maybe he just doesn't eat here," Steve said trying to get their hopes up, but it sounded like he was more saying it for his own good.

The groups started to wander around the flood and the longer they wandered the creepier things seemed.

"I think we've checked all the rooms," Steve said, now not even trying to hide his worry.

The floor was completely empty and everything seemed to send strange shadows across the floor, reminding Steve of the forest scene in the movie Snow White, which Tony had made him watch.

"No. There should be one more room right over there." Tony pointed at the slightly secluded door at the end of the hall.

If this floor had the same layout as the rest of them, then the room was a nice quaint bedroom with large windows and a bathroom. As they opened the door, Steve let out a sigh of relief with the rest of the group. The sheets were messed up, proving that someone had slept in them and a single large duffel bag lay at the foot of the bed.

"Well that's his bag," Bruce said, pocking said bag.

The others started to move into the room. Thor went to the agent's bedside table and picked up the 9mm gun that sat atop it. It seemed to say, 'This is my table. No one can set anything else here.'

"That gun's loaded, ya know." The voice seemed to seep from the shadows right behind Thor, making the asgardian yelp in surprise and drop the gun, setting it off as it hit the floor.

The noise caught the attention of the others in the room who all started freaking out as the bullet had just left a huge hole in the wall behind the archer.

"Friend Hawk! I'm so sorry for… for … for whatever I just did." Thor stammered making Clint sigh.

"Thor it's just a small hole in the wall. Nothing some plaster can't fix." Clint leaned over to pick up the gun and when he stood up he was starring into a set of oversized, worry filled puppy dog eyes that Clint imagined would work wonders on most people. But Clint wasn't most people. The archer wiped his thumb over the hole in the wall covering it with some sort of putty, making it seem like the hole had disappeared. "See, it's fine." Clint then looked at everyone else in the room. "Can I help you with something?"

Steve was the first to speak. "Wha… No… we just hadn't seen you around, so we thought we would come and see if you were actually here."

Clint raised an eyebrow at the way Steve fumbled over his words but gave a simple reply.

"Well, I'm here." There was a long awkward silence following Clint's statement which (surprise, surprise) was broken by Tony Stark.

"Well, we shall see you later. Join us for dinner or something. We're having pizza tonight and I'm making Capsicle and Goldilocks watch Oceans 11, so that'll be interesting."

Tony half escorted, half dragged the others to the elevator where they went back up the common room.

"So, he is here," Tony said as they stepped off the elevator and let their feet sink into the thickly carpeted floor.

"It seems so," Bruce said, nodding slightly as the men sat back down in the places they had been before.

"So Tony, are you ready to admit it?" Steve asked looking at Tony the way a teacher does when they ask you a question when you haven't been listening in class.

"Ready to admit what?" Tony asked innocently.

"That machines can't do everything."

Tony grumbled under his breath before answering.

"Machines can't do everything. YET!"

"Oh, for the love of…"

"Girls, settle down," Bruce sighed, looking at the two as if asking why he really had to deal with their immaturity. "You're both right, but I believe we have something more pressing to talk about."

The two men grumbled and had a small glaring contest before sitting back down.

"Barton is obviously taking his own guilt out on himself."

"Really? I thought he was just creepy," Tony muttered, earning himself a glare from the others.

"He has bags under his eyes suggesting he hasn't slept in a couple of days and his eyes are completely devoid of emotion," Bruce said. It sounded as if the scientist could relate but the others didn't comment on the subject.

"Isn't that what he's supposed to do? He's an assassin." Again all eyes went to Tony who just shrugged. "I'm just saying. We don't know much about him and about what he really does for SHIELD besides kill people. That's all he really seems to be able to do - kill people."

"He saved our lives multiple times during the Manhattan fight," Steve said looking at the others.

"But that was in a life or death situation. Would he really do that on an everyday basis?" Everyone was silent, not quite sure what to think.

"Maybe we should continue this conversation when we know the Hawk better," Thor said, getting up. The others seemed to agree and the meeting was finished.

* * *

Clint stayed in his perch in the air vents for a couple minutes after everyone left the room. 'That's all he really seems to be able to do - kill people.' Clint chuckled darkly at the thought; it was a conversation that he never wanted to bring up, mainly because he was so worried that it was true. That was one of the things that scared him the most.

Clint started climbing through the air vents until he got to the roof. The morning air was crisp as he looked down on all the people making their 9 o'clock commutes to work. That's one of the things Clint loved most about being up high: you could see some amazing and weird things. Street actors dancing to their favorite music showing their talent, pick pockets slipping through the crowds pulling their little, but harmful, pranks. But looking down was also like a reminder that he could never walk those streets in such a carefree way. He would always have to watch his back, hoping to see the shine of the knife before it could gut him and add one more name to the list of the world's dead.

Clint looked down at the famed city that never sleeps, before a movement on a neighboring roof caught his eye. His eyes miss nothing. Clint quickly realized that it was a person, but a lump got caught in his throught as he realized what the man was doing. He was scoping, making measurements of height and distance. He was making preparations for a hit. Preparing to make a hit on someone in the upper levels of the tower, an area only the avengers and a few others had access to. Clint eyes grew hard. The other avengers might not know him that well, but he knew them, and he would really like to call them friends. He just really didn't know how. So he sure as hell was not going to let someone come in and try to shoot one of them.

Clint stepped off the roof and fell a few stories before he landed gracefully, like a cat, on a wire that connected to the tower. He wasn't sure why it was there, seeing as Stark had his own internet and the tower ran on clean energy that had connections in the ground, but he really didn't care because it was a useful way for him to get around. Clint pulled some other fancy moves to get over to the roof, but it was a trivial thing for him, seeing as when he couldn't sleep he either ran or went to the archery range. Seeing as the gym was usually in use, he had been practicing his parkour skills around the Manhattan sky line for the past couple of nights.

The archer came to stand a couple feet behind the man before he said anything.

"Shooting at anyone in that building would not be a smart idea, seeing as you would then have to deal with my wrath, and probably a lot of other angry people."

The man whipped round in surprise, pulling out a gun and pointing it at the archer. Clint grabbed the end of the pistol, quickly disarming it, leaving the man with a useless hunk of metal in his hand. Well, useless against someone like him.

"Now…" Clint said, stepping towards the man while he twirled a wicked looking knife on his finger - a gift from Phil. "Who sent you and who are you trying to kill? Those are very simple questions and I expect you to answer them truthfully and quickly."

Clint gave the man a cold, horrifying glare that sent men into an insane, fear filled daze.

"B…Banner. I was sent to kill Banner," the man stuttered, backing away from Clint in terror.

"Now, who's your employer?"

"I… I can't say."

"That's a shame." Clint moved with lightning fast reflexes, slamming his fingers into a certain spot on the man's neck making him give out a short cry of pain and fall to his knees. "The harder I push the more pain you will feel, until eventually the pressure will kill you. Who is your employer?" The man let out a pain filled whimper before answering.

"Ross! General Ross. He didn't tell me why - he just wanted the man dead."

Clint pulled his fingers away and paced in a few tight circles thinking deeply.

"Who are you?" the man asked, still massaging his neck.

Clint smirked at the question.

"I'm most commonly known as Hawkeye. Seeing as you're a hit man, I'm guessing you've heard the name."

The man's eyes widened in fear as he did recognize the name, one that had many a story behind it, most of them not filled with happiness.

"So, tell your employer that I'm here and that I'm not so fond of people trying to shoot my frie… my acquaintances."

The man nodded and scampered off towards the stairs.

Once the man was out of Clint's hearing range, he let out a sigh. They weren't his friends; he didn't think they wanted to be and if you were friends with someone like him, your life span was probably a lot shorter than it would have been.

* * *

Clint stopped two other hit men over the next month and told them to take some not so nice messages back to Ross, who he started keeping a very close eye on. While inside the tower, the other Avengers had seen him a couple more times. He played a very short game of chess with Steve and when he said short, he meant that he shut the captain down in five moves and left him at the table with his mouth hanging open. Bruce talked to him a couple of times trying to get Clint to stop hating himself, and though the doctor's words helped him feel that maybe, just maybe, it really wasn't his fault, the thought only stayed for a few hours before the nightmares took over and kept the thought out of his mind.

A pile of over a thousand new arrows were left on his bed that he knew were from Tony, seeing as he painted one of them red and gold, but that wasn't really different seeing as Tony had made quite a few of his arrows in the past - he just hadn't known they were for Clint. Thor gave him a huge, fluffy stuffed Panda that he had seen in an ad on T.V. and bought at least twenty different life size stuffed animals including a giraffe. In a fit of happiness and coffee highness, he had given Clint the Panda that might have been able to crush the archer if it fell on him. That one left Clint smiling to himself for quite a while. He had gotten his first birthday present when he was 19, when Phil just chose a random date to be his birthday because Clint refused to tell him the actual date. Whenever someone tried to celebrate his birthday, things always went horribly wrong and Natasha, Phil and himself decided to not celebrate Christmas after a very bad experience in Warsaw. It wasn't often he got a present that wasn't a weapon either, so this one was really special.

Pepper sat with him and read for a couple of hours before leaving in just as much silence as she had come in, and even though they didn't talk, it made Clint secretly quite happy that they were starting to care for him. The feeling was still a bit foreign to him - to have this many people care for him, but it was … nice. Clint got this small warm feeling inside of himself, but then he would remember that he had tried to kill all those people and the screams would come back to him. He couldn't remember most of what happened, but he remembered every person he killed. The warm feeling would be gone and he would close himself up again.

* * *

Clint stretched his arms above his head, immediately regretting it as a jolt of pain went up his back from where he had fallen on his bow earlier that day during the fight against another science experiment that went wrong and was threatening the world. Not that he had told anyone about it. Clint smirked, remembering how mad Phil got when he didn't tell anyone when he got hurt, but he did it for the same reason he's doing it now. He didn't want anyone to worry about him.

The Avengers and Pepper were walking in the middle of Times Square, arguing about where to go out to eat. It had become a tradition of theirs, that after every fight they would go out to eat. They just ordered take out every other night of the week, seeing as none of them could cook. Of course, that wasn't technically true. Clint just hadn't bothered to tell them he could cook, seeing as he hadn't eaten with them outside of the after fight meals. Clint lingered in the back next to Bruce and Natasha, walking in their shadows. A shiver went down Clint's spine making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and his eyes snap open, taking in everything around him. It was the Feeling - the one he got when someone was watching him. Clint casually looked around the rooftops, feeling like the set of eyes were looking down at him … no… not at him … at Bruce! Clint's mind raced as he realized what was happening.

"Bruce, get down!"

Clint jumped in front of Bruce's back, grabbing the man's shoulder and pushing his head down and behind him. He saw the shine of light on the barrel of the gun as the recoil from the shot caused it to jolt. Pain exploded in Clint's side as he felt the bullet tear through his skin and hit a rib. The world seemed to move in slow motion as he fell and hit the concrete ground hard. People were screaming - some screaming his name, some screaming in fear. Natasha was kneeling next to him, her red hair falling in her face as she yelled at him. He wasn't quite sure what she was saying as everything was going blurry. He just wanted to tell her everything would be okay, that he was fine, even if he knew that both of those things were probably lies. He tried to give her a small reassuring smile but his world went black before he could.

**muhahahahaha! I'm being evil and leaving you on a cliffhanger, but you hopefully won't have to wait long for and update. Please review - maybe make it up to five reviews. **


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Everything had been so nice. They had saved the day again and the world was safe. Everyone was arguing about where to go for dinner like all friends should. Times Square was a whirl of vibrant colors, filled with different languages and people. Natasha was relaxed and smiling at his side, and even Clint seemed to be a little less tense than usual. Bruce could see they were starting to break the archer's defenses little by little; they almost got him to smile the other day. Bruce wasn't sure he had seen the younger man really smile but he hoped that they might soon. But in that entire paragraph, the most important word he had thought was 'had.' Everything _had_ been nice. One moment, Bruce had heard Clint yell his name as the archer jumped in front of him, pushing him down, but the next Clint was lying on the ground, coughing with a large pool of blood forming around him at a rate that was way too fast to be good. Bruce just stood there, not registering anything but the weakening form of the man he wanted to call a friend. It felt like hours, but in reality it was only seconds. When he started to sense everything else around him again, it hit him like a storm. The noise, the sirens, the emotions, the fear in the air. SHIELD paramedics were pulling a kicking and screaming Natasha away from Clint's motionless body. His eyes were closed and Bruce wasn't sure if he was breathing or not.

"Bruce. Bruce. Bruce!" Bruce finally looked at Tony who was shaking him, trying to get his attention; he wasn't sure how long the billionaire had been yelling his name.

"Come on - we're following that ambulance to SHIELD, and so help anyone who tries to stop us. Let's go!" Bruce finally got himself to nod as Tony pulled him into a doorless jeep which Bruce had seen in Tony's garage before, but had never seen the man use. No one said a word while they were in the jeep as no one wanted to talk and they were literally hanging on for dear life with the was Pepper was driving. Yes. Not Tony, not Thor, Pepper. She was at the wheel and driving live a raving lunatic. And even with her driving the way she was, they were barely able to keep up with the ambulance. As the two cars pulled up to the SHIELD headquarters, Bruce got a small glimpse of Clint as the paramedics were pulling him out of the ambulance. He had all sorts of tubes and wires sticking out of him as he was rushed off to the operating room. The Avengers raced down the hall after their acquaintance, no, not their acquaintance: Clint was their friend. He was part of their messed up family and they would not leave him to suffer alone! They turned the corner to have the operating room door slammed in their face and see the red 'operation in progress' sigh turn red. The Avengers collapsed in the array of chairs and couches placed strategically by the door and waited in silence. After two hours of waiting, Bruce couldn't take it anymore.

"Why? Why was he that stupid? I could have easily taken that bullet and I would have been completely unharmed! Why did he step in front of me?" Bruce got up and paced in tiny, tight, agitated circles.

"Friend Banner, if the bullet hit you, you would let out the Hulk and could have hurt many of the people in the area. Your world's Times Square is filled with people."

Bruce looked at Thor before giving a long sigh. He knew if he had the chance, he would have made the same chose but he still hated the fact that he'd gotten one of his friends hurt. Again.

"But why didn't he do the same thing he did to Pepper and just pull her out of the way?" Tony asked, looking to Natasha for answers, who just shrugged, not being very useful.

"Because if he did… the bullet would have hit Natasha."

The group looked at Steve, thinking about what he said.

"He saved my life again," Natasha muttered.

The hallway again lapsed into silence, everyone thinking about different things.

"You should know that he will do this again."

Everyone looked up to see Maria Hill at the end of the hall.

"What do you mean?" Thor asked, quietly looking at the agent.

Maria sighed.

"Clint really likes all of you - I can see that quite clearly when he's around you guys. He keeps his friends close and protects them with his life, because he doesn't want to lose another person he cares about. He knows that being friends with someone like him is really dangerous and he is still so unsure of himself after the Loki incident. However, he won't hesitate to land himself in that operating room over and over again if it means that all of you are safe."

The Avengers looked at Hill, assessing her words, seeing how Clint had acted in the past few days, what he had said to them and what they had said to him. And she was right - they could see it in his actions. He wasn't sure if he could be their friend or not, but they now all knew he was definitely theirs. There was a small creaking sound and all of their heads swiveled to the operating room door.

"What's his status?" Steve asked, moving right up to the doctor.

"Uh, Captain Rogers, can I at least get out of the door and into the hall before I start talking?"

Steve stepped back, a small blush forming on his cheeks.

"Well, Clint Barton is still the luckiest SOB I have ever met."

"He got shot," Tony said with a quizzical tone in his voice as he looked at the doctor like she was crazy.

"He got shot AGAIN. And he doesn't have any permanent injuries AGAIN. God, he's gotten shot, what is it now, eight times?"

The doctor stopped to look at Natasha for confirmation who nodded in agreement.

"Yes, eight times and all he has is scars! And then he's gotten stabbed and maimed and skewered, too - the list goes on and on."

The others, besides Natasha, were still looking at the doctor like she was crazy.

"Sooo…"

"Yes, he will make a full recovery. He'll probably wake up tomorrow. You can go to his room and see him if you want, but if you help him break out of the medical bay, so help you god, I will nail a fox skin to your back and set my two gray hounds on you."

The doctor went down the hall leaving the Avengers with their mouths hanging open.

"She will, so I'd be careful," Natasha said, starting to walk towards the rest of the med bay. "Let's go see Clint."

* * *

The Avengers pulled some more chairs into Clint's room so that they could all sit down. It was really squished, but they all found a comfortable spot. The archer didn't look so good. He had an oxygen mask on his face and his skin was as pale as a sheet of paper.

"Does it bother you?" Natasha asked, addressing the other Avengers.

Tony gulped, taking another look at the younger man's frail body.

"Yes," he finally answered, as everyone else stayed silent but thought the same thing.

"Well, to put it bluntly, get used to it. Our jobs have us in dangerous situations all the time and we sometimes get hurt. But we take those chances because if we fulfill what we were sent out to do, we're blotting out some of the bad we've done. I could die tomorrow, but all of you would have to go on, so if you're going to be our friends you need to be able to do that."

The others watched Natasha as she walked soundlessly out of the room. Each one wanted to contradict her but deep down they knew she was right.

* * *

Tony didn't sleep that much - three hours at most - but he felt fine anyways. He would get so engrossed in a project that he'd end up working until five pm the next day, not sleeping at all. Tony could see the other Avengers growing more tired by the minute, and Tony was glad for once that he could maintain watch. Clint had scared them a few times when his heart rate all of the sudden started speeding up, but it turned out just to be nightmares. They had learned to identify the signs by now - each nightmare made the archer's face scrunch up and sometimes mumble inaudible things. Tony found that if he grabbed Clint's hand gently he would calm down, but Tony could see that the man was getting no sleep. He hadn't been getting any sleep for the past few weeks, either. They had all seen that the bags under the man's eyes were getting bigger and one morning when it was raining, Bruce went to invite him to have breakfast with the others only to find that he was soaking wet like he had been outside.

It was about eight in the morning when Hill stopped by with some nice coffee, not the crappy stuff they had in the break room here. A couple other people stopped by in the next hour, a young recruit who had been Clint's friend, a fellow agent he had saved, and Sitwell who was a higher ranking agent in SHIELD but who was also Clint's new handler. By nine o'clock everyone but Thor had woken up and Natasha was back. Tony hadn't seen when she'd slipped into the room, which was really creepy. At about nine fifteen, all conversation stopped when they heard Clint mumble in his sleep. Tony wasn't sure what he had said but he could hear a few words like staff, SHIELD sled, ceremonial sword, and Manila. Steve stood up to check on the archer, but as he leaned over Clint, the archer shot up, hitting Steve smack dab in the middle of his chin. Clint grabbed his side and hissed in pain, regretting the sudden movement, as Steve massaged his jaw and stumbled back, almost falling on Tony.

"Friend Hawk! You are awake!"

Thor enveloped Clint in a giant bear hug. (One that Tony was glad he was not being crushed by.)

"Thor… can't… breath."

Clint chocked and he took in a giant gulp of fresh oxygen as Thor sheepishly let him go.

"So," Tony said "Decided to join the land of the liv…"

"дерьмо́!" Tony was cut off by a very furious Black Widow. If it was anyone else he would have called them on the carpet for it, but she would probably kill him in a very painful way if he did that to her. "Why the hell did you pull a stupid stunt like that? You could have died."

"But I didn't."

"Promise me you won't do anything like that again," she snapped.

Clint was silent for a second before he answered quietly.

"You know I can't."

Natasha pinned him with a furious expression before abruptly standing and striding out of the room, her footfalls making harsh taps echo through the hallway.

"She seems to be leaving the room very dramatic lately," Tony said, nodding slightly.

"And you never leave the room dramatically," Steve muttered sarcastically.

"Just saying."

"So how are you feeling?" Bruce asked, not paying attention to the useless banter going on around him.

"Considering everything, pretty good," Clint said, nodding. "How are you?"

Bruce laughed at the question.

"You're lying in a hospital bed with bandages around your side and you ask _me_ how I'm feeling?"

"Yep."

The two had a bit of a stare off before Bruce spoke again.

"I'm fine, really. But I guess I should be thanking you. That was a dangerous thing to do. You could have di… "

"Don't even bother reading me the riot act, Bruce. I don't regret my actions, and they are my actions so don't think that any of the blame is on your shoulders."

Bruce could see the sincerity and defiance in the archer's eyes and he found them incredibly believable. Bruce nodded as he looked down as his feet, ashamed that he had once doubted this man, not trusted him.

Clint sat up stiffly and pulled back the sheets, swinging his legs over the side.

"Uh, what do you think you're doing?" Tony asked, stopping his semi heated conversation with Steve.

"Well, someone shot at Bruce even though I warned them about the consequences of shooting at someone I care about, so I need to fine that person and make them regret that they did. I need to keep my word, after all."

"Wait, someone has tried this before?" Tony asked, looking at Clint with a mix of surprise and disbelief.

"Yes, the person who shot me makes four. The first three I saw scouting the tower and I sent them back to their employer before they could even take out their guns. Now it seems I need to talk to the man in person."

"Wait - you are in no shape to move about!" Bruce said, stepping in front of Clint, his doctor side coming out.

"Either you can come with me and catch me if I crash, or the moment you look away I'll be gone and will come back in worse shape."

"You don't have to go," Steve said, voice firm. "You _shouldn't_ go. Don't forget that we're involved in this, too. We can take care of this."

"No, you can't," Clint protested. "I need to be there with you. I swore that if they kept coming after Bruce that I'd take them down. If I don't and instead just sit here in the hospital they won't take this seriously, no matter how much damage you do. My situation will only get worse because they'll see me as the weak link."

"Yes, but - " Steve said, only to be cut off by Tony.

"I get what you mean, Katniss, but you're not going to do any of us any good if you start bleeding out in the middle of lecturing these guys," Tony said, crossing his arms. "Then you'll really look weak."

"It's better than bleeding out in a hospital bed," Clint muttered, glaring at them.

Bruce hadn't said anything yet, still thinking about the situation. Bruce and Clint started an incredibly intense staring contest, the tension practically seeping into the air. After about a minute Bruce sighed, signaling the Clint had won the eye battle.

"Fine. Where are we going?" Bruce asked begrudgingly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"We're going to an army base."

Bruce's body tightened up and his eyes flashed with fear, and he tilted his head forward so his shaggy hair covered his face.

"So he was the one who did this."

Bruce's voice was soft and strained as he spoke, making Clint give him a small nod.

"Friend Hawk, who are you talking about?" Thor asked, stepping into the conversation for the first time.

"A man who's never been very nice to Bruce and thinks the Hulk is dangerous to the human population."

"Ah," Thor said quietly.

"Tony, we're taking your car, and if you see Natasha or Doctor Truman it's every man for himself. Run like hell."

* * *

They didn't see anyone on the way to the car. Tony followed Clint's directions and in twenty minutes they were at an army base which was apparently not supposed to exist. As Tony pulled up to the gate he started having second thoughts.

"I can hack into anything and everything but to get us through that gate there's going to have to be a pretty big explosion," Tony said looking at Clint with some doubt.

"I know," Clint said nonchalantly "But that won't be a problem. Drive up to the gate."

As they pulled up to the gatekeeper a man came out. He was holding a wicked looking p90 and had an impressive amount of Kevlar on his body.

"Do you have any identification or clearance?" The man asked as he glowered down at Tony who gave a rakish grin.

"Do you know who I am - "

"This is SHIELD business, let us pass." Clint leaned over Tony to show the guard a leather patch with SHIELD's eagle emblem on it.

"Sorry sir, you can go." Tony raised an eyebrow at how the solider stiffened at the sight of the eagle but still fixed Clint with a hatred filled glare.

"I thought the other agencies didn't know about SHIELD?" Steve said, putting his head in between Clint and Tony.

"This one is an exception; we sometimes work with them so they know us."

The car came to a stop in front of a big gray building in the middle of the base. Everyone got out of the car and Bruce reached to to catch Clint when he thought he was going to collapse.

"Bruce, I'm fine. You don't need to stand so close to me."

Bruce took a few steps away from the archer but still kept his eyes on him at all times. Clint walked through the base door without even swiping an ID card seeing as a soldier who was leaving saw the eagle on the archer's jacket and graciously held the door open.

"Ok, the guy at the gate didn't seem to like you that much, but that guy didn't seem to mind you at all. It almost looked like he thought you were cool."

All eyes were now on the archer (well, the archer's back seeing as he was leading them through the base).

"Some of the people like us some of them really hate us," Clint said, shrugging. "It depends on their experience with us."

The group walked into a big room filled with quite a number of soldiers that was probably like a common area. The once loud room became eerily quiet. All eyes were on the group. No, Tony corrected himself - all eyes were on Clint. The room was now filled with a quiet murmur of whispering. Clint ignored them and continued walking.

* * *

Clint felt like crap. His side hurt and every once in a while the room would spin and he would feel like he was going to lose his footing. Blood loss sucked, majorly. The edges of his vision started getting grainy and the people seemed like they were moving in slow motion. He felt himself leaning to the left but his mind didn't really process that he was falling.

"Clint!" Clint vision came back to its full potential as Steve caught and steadied the archer.

"Are you sure that you can do this?" Thor asked, coming up behind the archer.

Clint closed his eyes for a fraction longer then a second to collect his thoughts.

"Yeah, let's just get this over with. When we're done we can go back to the tower or somewhere and I'll even take the pain meds."

Clint's words were slightly slurred as he got his footing and started to walk down the hall at a much slower pace.

"Wait, that implies that you didn't take them earlier!" Tony said, grabbing the archer's arm, stopping the group again.

"I've never liked pain meds," Clint muttered. "They make my senses dull and put an unsettling haze over my mind."

Tony let go of Clint's arm and the group started walking again. After a couple of minutes Clint stopped them in front of a plain oak door.

"Tony can you get the door open?" Clint asked, pointing at a key pad. "Under normal circumstances I would use the air vents or the window but that would probably not be the best choice."

"Who do you think I am?" Tony started, cracking his fingers for effect, making Bruce roll his eyes.

But Tony stopped mid stride.

"Wait, did you say air vents?" Tony said, his eyes widening with realization. "That's how you've been getting around the tower?"

"Oh, I thought you had figured that out already."

"Well," Steve said, clearing his throat. "Tony, I believe you were about to open the door for us."

"Yes, I was."

Tony stepped up to the door and started fiddling with the buttons. After a couple of minutes the door opened and Tony yelled a small "Voila!" and strutted into the office, to come face to face with a not so happy General Ross.

"What are you doing in here?" he demanded, getting up from the cushy swivel chair behind his desk.

Clint walked into the room and glared daggers at the general as he went to stand next to Tony. Steve walked in the room with the same facial expression and it made the man's authoritative facade slip for a second. When Thor walked (well, more stomped), into the room, looking like someone had blown up all the pop tart factories in the world, the general started making himself as small as he possibly could. Bruce walked in last, almost hiding behind Thor. When the general saw him, something flashed in his eyes making him regain a bit of his composure.

"So I'm guessing one of you goes by Hawkeye," The General said.

The annoying authoritative tone that Clint had learned to hate practically seeped off the guys words. Clint stepped forward to look the general in the eyes. Stormy blue met muddy brown. The fact that Clint had to look up at the general if he wanted to see eye to eye with the man would have been funny in a lot of situations but now no one laughed or smiled. The general smirked, the way you smirk when you think you're unstoppable.

"I heard that you took a bullet to the side for a friend of yours. I do hope you're all right."

The leather on the handle of Mjölnir cracked as Thor squeezed it so he didn't punch the 'unworthy, insignificant mortal'.

"I'm sure you know all about it," Steve growled.

"Are you accusing me of something, Captain?"

"Cut the BS, Ross," Tony said, pushing himself off the wall to stand with his arms crossed next to Steve.

"How dare you use that language with me!" the General spluttered.

"Use what language?" Tony asked, smirking. "BS, buffalo snot, last time I checked that wasn't a swear word. You thought it was the other one, didn't you? Just cut the buffalo snot - we know you had something to do with this."

"And who told you that I had something to do with this in the first place? Him?" The general pointed an accusing finger at Clint. "He is a traitor and a killer. He is a spy, yet you trust him?"

"Now listen here," Thor boomed, walking right up to Ross to get in his face. "I do not take kindly to people talking to my friends that way. Especially one as noble and loyal as Hawk. Now treat him with some respect."

Ross stood there in shock, unable to say anything, but he wasn't the only one. Everyone was looking at Thor with shock. They had never seen him so angry.

"Fine, so I did have something to do with the attempted hit. But it was for good reason." Ross glared at Bruce like he wanted to put him in a cage and let him sink to the bottom of the ocean. "That thing is dangerous and should be put down. I will do anything and everything that is necessary to keep the population safe and that _thing_ is a threat that must be gotten rid of. If _you_," Ross motioned to Clint like he was a form of the plague, "hadn't gotten in the way this would have been much easier."

The room was silent as the General finished his rant. Most of the occupants were trying desperately not to unleash their inner and most deadly rage. But then Bruce laughed. It started as a small chuckle but then became a laughed, but not a happy one, a laugh filled with darkness. It sent shivers down everyone's spines.

"You are an idiot." Bruce said calmly taking hand out of his pocket to reveal… a tape recorder.

* * *

Clint was stunned. First he had been called some horrible things by a raving lunatic of an army general. Then a Norse god had come to his defense and now a quiet doctor had pulled a totally awesome move on said army general.

Ross stood there dumbfounded, looking for something, anything to say.

"This recorded everything and we will be handing it to your superior officers so they can know what you've been up to. The US army made an agreement with SHIELD after the Battle of Manhattan that I would no longer be persecuted, as I am under SHIELD's official protection."

Despite himself, Clint smiled and then laughed. He walked over to Bruce and held up his hand for a high five. Bruce looked confused for a moment, but then he smiled and completed the high five. Thor, Steve and Tony did the same thing as Ross smoldered in the corner of the room.

"You," Ross mumbled picking up a coffee from his desk. "This is your fault!" Ross chucked the cup at Clint's head.

Clint tried to dodge but the cup skimmed the side of his forehead, leaving a small scratch before it shattered upon impact with the wall. Steve ran up and slammed a rock solid fist into the side of the General's head drooping him like a sack of potatoes.

"If anyone asks we can plea self-defense," Steve said, now looking very pleased with himself.

"Let's just give the tape to someone high on the food chain and get the hell out of here."

Tony saw everyone nod and heard a couple of mumbled 'I second that' before they walked out of the wooden door, leaving the unconscious General on his office floor.


End file.
